The Magic of Moonlight
by PnkPnguinParade
Summary: It's times like these, moments like this one, that make Addison believe in the magic of moonlight.  Addisex.  Rated for light smut.


**A/N: **Well, apparently my Addisex shipper only lives at three in the morning. I was up late (early? I guess it depends on how you look at it) and this came to me randomly in my sleep-deprived state. Light, light smut. (Would it even be considered smut? I don't know... I'm so new to all this...) I hope it's okay. Anyway... Enjoy. :-)

* * *

It's times like these, moments like this one that make Addison believe in the magic of moonlight. It's the dark, early hours of morning when the traffic quiets on Queen Anne Hill and a light breeze ruffles the curtains on the window that Alex insists on leaving open because Meredith "has the blood of a freaking snake" he tells her every night she stays with him in his room, right down the hall from her ex-husband in his girlfriend's house. But it's in these still moments, usually right after they make love, that she lays sprawled across his chest, his strong arms around her waist and his left hand making a trail up and down her side. In these moonlit minutes, she presses her ear to his chest and listens.

Addison is a scientist and she prides herself on being a practical person above all else. She's never believed in the whole two-hearts-that-beat-as-one thing that the fools in love raved about in the Harlequin books her mother had hidden from her daughter's preteen eyes. But in the moonlight, Scientist-Addison is replaced with Fool-In-Love-Addison and she lays there, as she often does, long after her lover's breaths have evened with sleep and his fingers have comes to rest just above her hip bone, listening to the steady lub-dub of his heart.

In the distance, she hears the muffled beeping of a pager and she feels Alex's chest tense beneath her, but she lightly strokes his cheek and he doesn't wake. She hears the rustling of one who has just been woken and gentle footsteps down the hall. Just outside the door, Derek coughs and his footsteps fade into silence. She supposes this would be an awkward situation for just about anyone else and, true, it hasn't been incredible easy living down the hall from her ex-husband, but Addison likes to think that she's flexible enough to adapt to anything. And as soon as her condo penthouse is finished, she and Alex will probably spend more nights on the opposite side of Seattle. Addison feels the heat rise to her cheeks. She is, Alex likes to point out every opportunity he gets, a screamer. And screaming as your much younger boyfriend rides you for all he's worth when your ex-husband is sleeping two doors down? Addison thinks that has to be the most awkward part of this whole arrangement.

…

Alex sighs beside her so she turns silently to him and kisses his shoulder. "My turn…" His fingers rest on her thigh. "If someone handed you a million dollars, what would you do with it?"

When this whole relationship thing, she's taken to calling it, had started, Addison had made the mistake of telling Alex that she had almost gone to law school instead of medical school. Ever since, there were nights that they would lie side by side and ask each other any question they wanted with the promise of no lies. "Mmm…" She shakes her head. "Irrelevant question. I've already got a million dollars."

He groans. "Why can't you ever just answer the damn questions, Addie?"

"Okay. Fine. I have _another_ million dollars… And I wouldn't change a thing…" She stares into his eyes. "Well… Okay, that's kind of a lie. I'd go shopping… Then hand you the rest to pay off your student loans… Then if there's anything left, I'd stick it in a trust fund for the children's college."

Alex smiles. "How many children?"

"Okay, now, it's my turn." She quiets him by pressing a finger to his lips. "The million dollars… What would you do with it?"

He chews on his bottom lip. "Pay off my loans… Buy my mom a house in Iowa… Then I'd take you wherever you wanted to go…"

"Your turn," she mutters sleepily from his side.

"How many children?"

"Uh…" she falters as he slips two fingers into her core. "Well…" She's sure she knows English, but by God she can't seem to speak right now. "Umm…" And there's a third. She swallows, trying to regain herself. "Objection…" she moans, holding tight to his shoulders.

"On what grounds?" Alex breathes into her hair.

"Council is badgering the witness."

He grins as he gently settles himself into her and kisses her cheek. "Addie… You'd have made a terrible lawyer."

…

Three hours later, Addison watches the moonbeams dance around her lover's face. He's been sleeping for some time now and Addison knows she should be doing the same, but she lives for these moments, this time when she can lay in silent stillness and be happy. Alex sighs and smiles in his sleep and Addison can't help but wonder if he's dreaming of her the way she dreams of him. She can still taste herself on his lips as she kisses him gently and disentangles her legs from his, wrapping his gold University of Iowa blanket around her as she steps to the window and stares down at the wet pavement, the moonlight reflecting off it like millions of tiny diamonds. Her hair falls wild around her face and she feels young and carefree and joyous and she laughs a little when a drop of water falls from a leaf onto her nose.

If Alex were awake, this would be the part when he asks her what she's doing and what's so funny at three in the morning. And she would sigh deeply, upset that her perfect cocoon spun of silvery moonlight was shattered, turn slowly from the window, and tell him that he'd ruined it. And, always as if he had no idea what she was talking about, he'd ask what he'd ruined. As she would crawl back into bed beside him, she'd wait until he was almost asleep before she would answer, "The magic."

Addison watches gauzy clouds drift over the moon and she rests her forehead on the window frame. She jumps as arms wrap around her from behind, but then nestles against his chest and breathes in the scent of his skin. She expects him to talk. She expects him to ruin her magic unintentionally, like he always does, but instead, he just rests his chin on her head and watches the clouds with her. Soon though, the hazy clouds become thick and roiling and a flash of lightning rips open the sky. She inhales sharply, caught off-guard by the sudden flash and Alex instinctively pulls her closer to him as the thunder follows.

She isn't sure how long they stand there like that, watching the storm that ends as abruptly as it began. It rains a bit more before the thick clouds dissipate and the moon again peeks through spider-web thin clouds.

"Marry me."

The sound of his voice makes Addison's breath catch in her throat. She blinks a few times and is shocked to see the silver glimmers of moonlight cast on their bodies. She stands still for a moment, waiting for him to elaborate before she turns slowly in his arms and looks at him with question written on her face.

He looks straight into her eyes and nods. "Marry me."

If anything, she thinks, the room's gotten lighter. But the stillness isn't disrupted by his voice, instead, she feels like the moonbeams could be singing to her, a whole chorus of 'marry mes.' She looks around and back into the deep brown of his eyes. She kisses him lightly. "Say it again."

"Marry me," he states confidently.

Oh, yes, there was definite humming. She closes her eyes and lets the night sink into her.

"I know I'm not supposed to talk," He clears his throat. "But it would be nice to get an ans—"

"Shh!" She stops him and pressed her mouth to his. Addison tentatively opens her eyes and sighs when she can still see their shadows on the carpet. She looks at Alex's face, hope and anxiety in his eyes, every crevice that she loves accented and bathed in the silver of night. "It's here to stay this time," she breathes.

"What is?"

She smiles and kisses him. "The magic."


End file.
